Las Vegas police still tracking Carson prison escapee

Las Vegas police raided a house near the Henderson city line Friday looking for Jody Thompson, an inmate who escaped from Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City on Aug. 25.

Lt. Ted Snodgrass, head of the city's Metro robbery division, said Thompson wasn't in the house but that two possible associates were located and investigators found drugs in the home.

"So one of his friends will be returning to jail," he said.

Snodgrass said Thompson is suspected of two Las Vegas robberies and possibly another in Nye County since his escape.

"We haven't stopped on this," he said. "I don't want him robbing any more of my bars."

He said catching Thompson won't be easy because he doesn't make many mistakes.

"He's very polite and very much in control when he goes in. There's not a lot of yelling. He never loses his temper," he said.

Although he hasn't so far, Snodgrass said he is convinced Thompson will use a gun if necessary.

"I'm afraid somebody's going to get hurt."

Thompson, 24, was serving multiple sentences for robbing a series of bars when he escaped NNCC by hiding in the back if a Prison Industries delivery truck. He was seen by a convenience store clerk in Fallon but apparently returned to Southern Nevada, where he was raised. Officials say he has friends and family in Pahrump and Las Vegas.

The prison's inspector general is still investigating exactly how the inmate got out and whether someone might have helped him.

Metro police thought they had him Sept. 3 when they spotted a man resembling Thompson outside a home under surveillance in southwest Las Vegas. The man and a woman fled.

The chase ended when the two crashed into another vehicle and the male fled on foot, broke into a home and took the female resident's keys.

He then used her car to escape officers who had pursued on foot.

When they returned to the wrecked vehicle, the woman too was gone.

Snodgrass said Metro's robbery division is following a number of leads, including the warrant served Friday.

"We're going to keep doing it until someone talks to us," he said. "I want this guy."

-- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.